Research Supervision

Biography

My research interest lies in the field of civil liberties and human rights. Within that field my main interests are in counter-terrorist law and policy, media freedom of expression (in particular contempt law, obscenity law and privacy law), public protest, and the influence of the European Convention on Human Rights under the Human Rights Act. The publications listed below, in particular my two single-authored books, concentrate on those areas. My current research focuses on counter-terrorist measures, media freedom of expression and judicial reasoning under the Human Rights Act.

I am interested in supervising research students (for PhDs or Mjurs) in the following areas: The Human Rights Act, Bills of Rights, counter-terrorism law and policy, privacy and media freedom, hate speech laws, English contempt law or obscenity law.

Teaching Areas

Media LawCivil Liberties and Human Rights

Organisation and Promotion of Research

Human rights Consultant for Doughty Street Chambers, ongoing

Member of the Commonwealth Scolarship Commission in the United Kingdom (2016-2023)

2005-9 Director of Research, Durham Law School; responsible for the RAE submission and Chair of the Research Committee

Co-Director of the Durham University Human Rights Centre 2001-2012

Convenor of the Civil Liberties and Human Rights Subject Section for the Society of Legal Scholars 2002-201

2.4.15 Future Foreign Policy 'Disrupting the process of radicalisation via legislation to prevent young radicals leaving to fight for ISIS'

10.3.15 UK Constitutional law group blog ‘The Conservative stance in the 2015 election on the UK’s relationship with the Strasbourg Court and its jurisprudence – bluff, exit strategy or compromise on both sides?’

Selected Media Appearances

24.6.17 Presentation on UK counter-terror measures to UN Expert group meeting on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination in the context of counter-terrorism, Budapest

Week of 22.5.17 range of interviews with regional radio stations and newspapers on counter-terror measures and the Manchester attack

31.3.17 interview about the UK’s counterterrorism laws in relation to the first British woman to join a female militia in Syria The Times

23.3.17 Interview for Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo on the attacks in London

3.1.17 interview with BBC Radio 4 World at One, at 1.15, and BBC Radio 5 Live about Ryan Lock who died in Syria fighting ISIS; relevance of counter-terror measures

30.11.16 ‘The Role of Parliaments in Overseeing Measures Implemented to Prevent and Counter Violent Extremism’ for members and staff of the Assembly of Kosovo and parliamentary delegations from Western Balkan countries, Pristina, Kosovo

28-29 April 2016: my work on non-trial-based counter-terror measures presented in an international conference at the Maison française d'Oxford: "The Rule of Crisis: Crisis legislation, emergency and rule of law from a comparative standpoint"

7.8.16 Raising The Bar 11am, BBC Radio 5 live - Series 2, Episode 3 on Control orders and counter-terrorism

29.6.16 interview with Metro Radio on risk of ‘lone-wolf’ terror attacks in UK

24.3.16a discussion on Islamic terrorism for Sputnik Radio 2 pm

23.3.16 BBC Radio North East 8 a.m. Breakfast Show live – on Brussels attacks and security measures including surveillance

22.3.16 a live skype interview with Russia Today, 11.50 on the Brussels attacks and counter-terror measures.

22.3.16 Interview with Metro Radio on the Brussels attacks and their wider implications

16.2.15 Interview with Wall Street Journalon use of CCTV, surveillance in Europe generally and the attacks in Copenhagen, journalist Schechner, Sam

11.2.15 Interview with the Guardian, for piece by Emine Saner on British nationals returning from fighting not for ISIS, but against ISIS (with the Kurdish YPG army)

22.8.14 Appeared on BBC News 24 to outline the existing laws available to the UK government to restrict the movement of UK nationals suspected of involvement with terrorist organisations.

24.4.14 BBC South East Televised interview on British nationals fighting in Syria, terrorist offences.

24.4.14 BBC 1 Live interview on British nationals fighting in Syria, terrorist offences

14.11.14 Live interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer LBC ‘Use of temporary exclusion orders against returnees from Syria and seizure of passports’

4.4.15 LBC Radio, live phone interview with Ken Livingstone and David Mellor on Britons travelling to Syria

Consultancy/Expert Advice

UN workJune 2014: gave 2 presentations and led a working group at the UN workshop in Tunisia for representatives from MENA nations (Saudia Arabia, Lebanon, Yemen, etc) on developing a framework for freedom of information in their countries

In March and April 2013 worked on comments on the draft UNODC freedom of expression tool. Attended UNODC International Expert Group Meeting on 11-12 April, Vienna, Vienna International Centre, involving 50 international experts from law, from journalism and from NGOs from around the world, 1 for each country represented; the meeting was the main event in the UNODC Initiative on Promoting Responsible and Professional Reporting on Corruption on the basis of the UN Convention against Corruption. July 2013 draft document circulated: Promoting Responsible and Professional Reporting on Corruption on the Basis of the United Nations Convention against Corruption; provided comments on: Journalistic Source Protection and intimidation of journalists, especially at borders (example of Miranda and Sched 7 Terrorism Act 2000); the right of access to information; self-regulation of the press; ‘citizen journalism’. The freedom of expression tool will be finalized and promulgated to all the UN member states in late 2013.

Law Commission ongoing work on reform of contempt law: relates to my three chapters on contempt in Fenwick and Phillipson Media Freedom under the Human Rights Act (2006,OUP), and to my chapter in Borrie and Lowe on Contempt (Lexis Nexis, 4th edn 2010). Law Commission: Contempt of Court: A Consultation Paper (No 209) (2012). Chap 4 referred extensively to the three chaps on contempt I wrote in Media Freedom. I also wrote, with G Phillipson, a briefing note on the consultation for the Commission in November 2012.

Gave evidence to the Joint Committee on the Draft Enhanced Terrorism Prevention Measures Bill (ETPIM Bill) on 24th October 2012. The Committee was conducting pre-legislative scrutiny on the draft Bill, and reported to Parliament on November 9th 2012 with its recommendations (Draft Enhanced Terrorism Prevention Measures Bill: Report HL Paper 70, HC 495, 27.11.12) which included a range of references to my evidence (at pp6,18,25,26,30, 31).

Universities UK, AREC and University of Warwick working in partnership 24.4.13 - training session for research ethics officers, research assistants, IT personnel: Counter-terrorism law and security research

Expert advisor for Liberty 2006

Advice on counter-terrorist policy to Canadian High Commissioner 2006

Expert assessor OSCE ODIHR Roundtable, Warsaw 2006

Council of Europe: expert advice on criminal justice and public order laws, Armenia, 2008, Moldova 2001

Chapter in book

Fenwick, H (Published). ‘Reconciling international human rights law with executive non-trial-based counter-terror measures: the case of UK temporary exclusion orders’. In The Rule of Crisis: Crisis Legislation, Emergencies and the Rule of Law. Auriel, P Springer.

Fenwick, H (Published). An ECHR right to access a registered partnership? In The Future of Registered Partnerships. Hayward, H & Sherpe, J Intersentia.

Fenwick, H (Published). Media freedom of expression at the Strasbourg Court: current predictability of the standard of protection offered. In The Routledge Companion to Media and Human Rights. Tumber, H & Waisbord, S Routledge.

Fenwick, H (2018). Criminalisation and quasi-criminalisation of terrorism: emerging trends and tensions with human rights law in the UK. In Oxford Handbook of Criminal Process. OUP.

Fenwick, H (2017). Feminist version of the judgment in ABC v Ireland. In International Law Feminist Judgments. Lavers, T & Hodson, L Hart.

Fenwick, Helen (2015). Enhanced Subsidiarity and a Dialogic Approach - Or Appeasement in Recent Cases on Criminal Justice, Public Order and Counter-Terrorism at Strasbourg Against the UK? In The UK and European Human Rights
A Strained Relationship?. Ziegler, Katja S., Wicks, Elizabeth & Hodson, Loveday Oxford: Hart. 194-213.

Fenwick, H (2014). Post 9/11 UK counter-terrorism cases in the European Court of Human Rights: a ‘dialogic’ approach to rights’ protection or appeasement of national authorities? In Critical Debates on Counter-Terrorist Judicial Review. de Londras, F & Davies, F Cambridge University Press.

Fenwick, Helen. (2013). Conservative anti-HRA rhetoric, the Bill of Rights "solution" and the role of the Bill of Rights Commission. In The United Kingdom's statutory Bill of Rights constitutional and comparative perspectives. Masterman, R. & Leigh, I.D. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy.

Fenwick, Helen. & Phillipson, G. (2010). UK Control Orders as a Counter-Terrorism Strategy: reading down liberty and due-process rights. In The Impact of Contemporary Security Agendas against Terrorism on Criminal Law and Law Enforcement. Max Planck Institute.

Fenwick, Helen. (1998). Introduction to Professor Andrew Ashworth's The European Convention on Human Rights and English Criminal Justice: Ships which pass in the Night? In The Public Law of Europe and the Common Law of the UK. Andenas, Dr M. Keyhaven Publications. 215-226.

Fenwick, Helen. (2010). Recalibrating ECHR rights and the role of the Human Rights Act post 9/11: reasserting international human rights norms in the “war on terror”? Current Legal Problems63(1): 153-234

Fenwick, H (2013), Setting the limits of political self-determination in democracies in relation to international human rights, Centre for International Law and HUman Rights. University of Lancaster, University of Lancaster.

Fenwick, Helen. (2006), Counter-terrorism Law and Policy in the UK: the changing balance between human rights and security, Warsaw Symposium on Terrorist Law and Policy. Warsaw, Poland, the Transatlantic Policy Consortium, Warsaw.

Fenwick, Helen. (2005), The Relationship between Freedom and Security in Europe, The British Perspective. Berlin, Germany, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation, Berlin.

Fenwick, Helen (2004), Indefinite Detention without Trial - the “response” of Great Britain's legal order to September 11 2001: conflicts with fundamental rights, The European Anti-Terrorist Legislation and the protection of fundamental rights and liberties. Brussels, Brussels, Brussels.